How Many Massachusetts Crashes Involve a Utility Pole or a Tree?

Utility poles and trees were the first thing struck in 20,938 Massachusetts crashes from 2022 through 2024, 12,036 involving a utility pole and 8,902 involving a tree, according to MassDOT’s crash records, and trees are the deadliest object on the roadside: they were the first harmful event in 2.2 percent of all crashes but 12.3 percent of fatal ones. Counting every fixed object (poles, trees, guardrails, curbs, posts, barriers, ditches, embankments and bridges), 60,845 of the Commonwealth’s 405,242 crashes over the three years began with a car hitting something that does not move. That is 15.0 percent of crashes and 32.4 percent of fatal crashes. The numbers also answer the question people ask on the side of the road, which is who pays for the pole, and the law has a separate answer for the guardrail that should have been there and was not.

What the Records Count

Every Massachusetts crash report records a “first harmful event,” the first thing that caused injury or damage. MassDOT publishes that field in its open crash data, and the figures below are the three most recent complete years, 2022 through 2024, for all 349 cities and towns.

Two limits are worth knowing before reading the numbers. The field records the first harmful event only, so a car that is struck by another car and then pushed into a pole is counted as a collision with a vehicle, not with a pole. And 8,601 crashes were coded as “collision with unknown fixed object,” which means the true count for any single object, poles included, is somewhat higher than the figure shown.

The totals reconcile: the 349 town figures add to exactly the statewide totals, and every town’s crash count matches the figure on this site’s Massachusetts crash report.

The Objects, Ranked

Object first struck	Crashes 2022 to 2024	Fatal crashes	Fatal per 1,000 crashes	Share involving injury
Utility pole	12,036	59	4.90	34.6%
Guardrail	9,680	54	5.58	25.2%
Tree	8,902	134	15.05	35.9%
Unknown fixed object	8,601	20	2.33	16.2%
Curb	6,340	28	4.42	24.6%
Other light pole or post	5,705	17	2.98	18.6%
Median barrier	3,680	16	4.35	26.7%
Ditch	2,583	6	2.32	22.5%
Embankment	2,345	15	6.40	30.5%
Bridge	506	2	3.95	18.4%
Bridge overhead structure	467	1	2.14	5.1%
All fixed objects	60,845	352	5.79	26.6%
All crashes	405,242	1,087	2.68	22.9%

The utility pole is the most common fixed object struck, at roughly 4,000 crashes a year in every year (4,070, 3,933 and 4,033). It is also the one most likely to hurt someone without killing them: more than a third of pole crashes involved an injury.

The tree is in a category of its own. At 15.05 fatal crashes per 1,000, a crash that begins with a tree is about five and a half times as likely to be fatal as the average Massachusetts crash. Trees were the first harmful event in 134 of the 1,087 fatal crashes over the three years, more than utility poles and guardrails combined (113).

Answer Capsule

From 2022 through 2024, 60,845 of Massachusetts’ 405,242 crashes (15.0 percent) began with a vehicle striking a fixed object, and those crashes produced 352 of the 1,087 fatal crashes (32.4 percent). Utility poles were the most common object at 12,036 crashes; trees were the deadliest at 15.05 fatal crashes per 1,000, against 2.68 for all crashes. Fixed-object crashes make up nearly twice the share of crashes in smaller towns as in larger ones: 23.2 percent of crashes in the 233 communities with fewer than 1,000 crashes, against 12.9 percent in the 116 larger ones. A driver who hits a pole is usually responsible for the pole under the property damage coverage required by M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 34O, at least $30,000 on policies issued or renewed since July 1, 2025.

Both Severity Measures Go Up

When this site has cut the crash data by condition, the useful finding has usually been the shape of two rates together: how often a crash kills someone, and how often it injures someone. Some conditions move only the fatal rate. Snow moves both down. Fixed-object crashes move both up.

Compared with every other kind of crash, a fixed-object crash in Massachusetts is 2.7 times as likely to be fatal (5.79 against 2.13 per 1,000) and more likely to involve an injury (26.6 percent against 22.2 percent). The likely reason, which is an inference rather than something the records state, is that most of these are single-vehicle crashes in which the car stops suddenly against something rigid and there is no second vehicle’s crumple zone to absorb any of it.

When and Where It Happens

In the dark, on unlit roads. 13.5 percent of fixed-object crashes happened on dark roads with no lighting, against 5.8 percent of all crashes. For fatal fixed-object crashes the share is 23.0 percent. Only half of fixed-object crashes (50.6 percent) happened in daylight, against two thirds of all crashes (67.0 percent). The broader night pattern is in Massachusetts night crash data.

On snow and ice, but the deadly ones on dry pavement. On snow, 44.1 percent of all crashes were fixed-object crashes (5,056 of 11,465), and on ice 47.8 percent (2,751 of 5,751), against 12.1 percent on dry roads. A car that slides leaves the road. But 77.6 percent of fatal fixed-object crashes happened on dry roads, which fits the earlier finding that winter crashes are slower and less severe; the full surface breakdown is in Massachusetts crash data by road surface.

In smaller towns. In the 233 communities that recorded fewer than 1,000 crashes over the three years, 23.2 percent of crashes were fixed-object crashes and 4.72 percent were tree crashes. In the 116 communities at 1,000 or more, the figures were 12.9 percent and 1.55 percent. Tree-lined two-lane roads and fewer intersections mean that when something goes wrong, the car is more likely to leave the road than to hit another car.

Town by Town

Most utility pole crashes. Brockton recorded 296 pole crashes over the three years, the most of any community, against 76 in Boston, which had more than twice as many crashes overall (17,408 against 7,378). Taunton was second at 242, then Springfield 153, Worcester 146, Lynn 144, Haverhill and Lowell 139 each, Weymouth 136, Easton 132 and Fall River 131.

Highest pole share. Among the 116 communities with at least 1,000 crashes, Easton had the highest share of crashes that began with a utility pole, 8.33 percent (132 of 1,585), followed by Dracut at 7.94 percent (106 of 1,335) and Westport at 6.77 percent (75 of 1,108). Statewide the figure is 2.97 percent.

Most tree crashes. Barnstable led with 138, then Plymouth 125, Springfield 120, Middleborough 110, and Newton 98. By share, among communities with at least 1,000 crashes: Charlton 4.85 percent, Yarmouth 4.82, Sharon 4.70, Plymouth 4.57 and Wareham 4.31, against 2.20 statewide.

Highest fixed-object share. Charlton (26.6 percent, 466 of 1,751), Palmer (26.0), Westport (24.7), Dartmouth (24.2) and Lexington (23.9). These should not be read as a danger ranking. In Charlton, 141 of the 466 were guardrail or median barrier crashes, and in Lexington 166 of 405 were; both towns carry interstate highway mileage, where guardrails line the road. The share partly reflects what kind of road runs through the town.

Lowest. The dense cities sit at the other end: Lawrence 5.0 percent (271 of 5,385), Lowell 6.3, Cambridge 6.7 and Chelsea 7.2. Fewer roadside objects are within reach of a car at city speeds, and most crashes are with other vehicles.

Per-town figures, including fatal and injury totals, are on the crash report for each community: Brockton, Taunton, Easton, Dracut, Barnstable, Plymouth and Charlton.

Who Pays When You Hit a Utility Pole

A utility pole, a fence, a sign or a guardrail is someone else’s property, and Massachusetts insurance is built around that.

The pole. M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 34O requires every Massachusetts auto policy to carry property damage liability coverage that pays sums the insured becomes legally obligated to pay for damage to property of others. For policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2025, the minimum is $30,000 per accident. When a driver is at fault for hitting a pole, the pole’s owner can look to that coverage for the cost of replacing it.

Your car. Damage to your own car from hitting a pole or a tree is covered only if you bought optional collision coverage, which sec. 34O(1) describes. Without it, the cost of your own car is yours unless someone else caused the crash.

Your injuries. Personal Injury Protection under M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 34A pays at least $8,000 for medical bills and lost wages without regard to fault, which matters in a single-vehicle crash where there is often nobody else to claim against. Passengers hurt in a car whose driver lost control can claim against that driver’s bodily injury liability coverage, a minimum of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident under the same section.

The report. Under M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 26, if anyone is injured or killed, or there is damage over $1,000 to any one vehicle “or other property,” the operator must file a written crash report within five days. A pole knocked down in a crash will usually clear that line by itself.

When the Road Is the Problem

Not every fixed-object crash is the driver’s fault alone. Massachusetts has a specific, narrow law for crashes caused by the road itself, and its deadlines are far shorter than the usual three years.

1. Identify who maintains the road. A city or town maintains local roads; MassDOT maintains state highways; the Department of Conservation and Recreation maintains its parkways. The rules differ, and crashes on DCR parkways have their own complications.
2. Give written notice within 30 days. M.G.L. c. 84, sec. 18 requires notice within thirty days of the injury, stating the name and place of residence of the person injured and the time, place and cause of the injury or damage. For a town, c. 84, sec. 19 says notice can go to a selectman, the town clerk or the treasurer; for a city, the mayor, city clerk or treasurer. For a state highway, c. 81, sec. 18 requires notice to a member of the department.
3. Know what the claim covers. M.G.L. c. 84, sec. 15 allows recovery for injury or damage caused “by reason of a defect or a want of repair or a want of a sufficient railing in or upon a way,” where reasonable care could have prevented it and the town had or should have had reasonable notice. A missing or inadequate guardrail is expressly within the words.
4. Know the cap. A city or town is not liable for more than one fifth of one percent of its state valuation or $5,000, whichever is lower. On a state highway, c. 81, sec. 18 limits recovery to defects within the constructed traveled roadway, excludes the want of a railing, and caps the amount at $4,000.
5. File within three years. If the notice is given and the claim is not paid, c. 84, sec. 18 allows an action of tort within three years.

The caps are low enough that a road defect claim rarely covers a serious injury on its own, which is why the other sources of recovery above usually matter more. There is more on claims against public bodies in can you sue the government in Massachusetts.

Where the Pole Is Allowed to Stand

A practical point that most people never hear about: a utility company cannot simply put a pole wherever it likes along a public way. Under M.G.L. c. 166, sec. 22, the company must petition the board of aldermen of the city or the selectmen of the town, a public hearing must be held with notice to the abutting owners, and the order granting the location specifies where the poles may be placed. The order is recorded by the city or town clerk in books kept for that purpose.

That record is a public document, and in a serious crash it is one of the first things worth asking for: whether the pole stood where its grant of location said it would, and whether the location was ever altered. It does not decide fault by itself, but it is the paper trail for a question that is otherwise hard to answer.

Fault Still Decides the Claim

Whatever was struck, fault in Massachusetts is decided under the comparative negligence rule in M.G.L. c. 231, sec. 85: an injured person can recover as long as their own negligence was not greater than that of the people they are claiming against, with damages reduced in proportion. A driver forced off the road by another car, a passenger, or a driver who swerved to avoid a hazard someone else created may have a claim against another driver even though the car ended up against a tree. The general deadline for those claims is three years under M.G.L. c. 260, sec. 2A.

For a crash involving a pole, a tree or a guardrail, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS. The line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free. Personal injury matters are handled on a contingency fee, meaning no attorney fee unless there is a recovery; costs and expenses are handled separately and are explained in the fee agreement before anything is signed. For the practice-area pages covering the cities with the most pole crashes, see property damage claims in Brockton, auto accidents in Brockton, auto accidents in Taunton and auto accidents in Plymouth.

Key terms

• First harmful event: the first event in a crash that caused injury or damage, as recorded on the Massachusetts crash report and published by MassDOT.
• Fixed object: a stationary object off or beside the road, such as a utility pole, tree, guardrail, curb, post, barrier, ditch, embankment or bridge.
• Property damage liability coverage: the required part of a Massachusetts auto policy, under c. 90, sec. 34O, that pays for damage the insured is legally obligated to pay to other people’s property.
• Collision coverage: optional coverage under c. 90, sec. 34O(1) that pays for damage to your own vehicle from a collision.
• Defect in a way: a condition of a public road, including want of repair or of a sufficient railing, for which c. 84, sec. 15 allows a limited claim against the responsible town or county.
• Grant of location: the order under c. 166, sec. 22 that permits a utility to place poles on a public way and specifies where they may stand.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How many Massachusetts crashes involve a utility pole?

A: 12,036 crashes from 2022 through 2024 had a utility pole as the first harmful event in MassDOT’s crash records, roughly 4,000 a year (4,070, 3,933 and 4,033). That makes the utility pole the most common fixed object struck in Massachusetts. 59 of those crashes were fatal and 34.6 percent involved an injury.

Q: Why are tree crashes so deadly?

A: The records show the result rather than the reason. Crashes that began with a tree produced 15.05 fatal crashes per 1,000, against 2.68 for all Massachusetts crashes, and accounted for 134 of the 1,087 fatal crashes from 2022 through 2024. The likely explanation, which is an inference, is that a tree does not give way, and most tree crashes involve a single car leaving the road at speed, often on unlit roads.

Q: Who pays for a utility pole if I hit it?

A: If you were at fault, usually your insurer, through the property damage liability coverage that M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 34O requires on every Massachusetts policy, with a minimum of $30,000 per accident for policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2025. Damage to your own car is covered only by optional collision coverage. If another driver forced you into the pole, that driver’s coverage may be responsible instead.

Q: Which Massachusetts town has the most utility pole crashes?

A: Brockton, with 296 from 2022 through 2024, followed by Taunton at 242. By share of a town’s crashes, among communities with at least 1,000 crashes, Easton was highest at 8.33 percent, then Dracut at 7.94 percent and Westport at 6.77 percent, against 2.97 percent statewide.

Q: Can I sue the town if a missing guardrail caused my crash?

A: Possibly, but the claim is narrow. M.G.L. c. 84, sec. 15 covers injury caused by a defect, want of repair or “want of a sufficient railing” on a way the town must repair, if the town had or should have had reasonable notice. Written notice must be given within 30 days under sec. 18, and recovery is capped at $5,000. On a state highway, c. 81, sec. 18 excludes the want of a railing altogether and caps other defect claims at $4,000.

Q: Do I have to report a crash into a pole or a tree?

A: If anyone was injured or killed, or there was more than $1,000 of damage to any one vehicle or other property, M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 26 requires the operator to file a written crash report within five days. Damage to a utility pole counts as damage to other property.

Q: Are fixed-object crashes more common in winter?

A: A larger share of winter crashes are fixed-object crashes: 44.1 percent of crashes on snow and 47.8 percent on ice, against 12.1 percent on dry roads. But the deadly ones are not mostly winter crashes. 77.6 percent of fatal fixed-object crashes from 2022 through 2024 happened on dry roads.

Q: Is Jimmy Knows AI giving me legal advice?

A: No. This is general information about Massachusetts crash data and Massachusetts law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney client relationship. Whether any of it bears on your situation depends on facts a lawyer would need to review. For advice about your own matter, speak with a licensed Massachusetts attorney.